Virtual golf systems are widely spreading which allow golfers to virtually play golf at low cost in downtown areas and the like. The basic concept of such virtual golf systems is to acquire a number of photographed images of a golf ball upon being hit by a golfer, measure physical quantities of the golf ball on the basis of the trajectory, interval, size and the like thereof, perform a simulation of the shot, and display a result of the simulation on a screen. In the virtual golf systems, it is important to acquire the photographed images of the golf ball as good as possible.
In this connection, a technique for photographing a golf training session while adjusting the location or color of illumination to acquire more diverse images of a golf ball has been disclosed in Korean Laid-open Patent Publication No. 10-2009-0112538 (entitled, “APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING GOLF IMAGES USING ILLUMINATION CONTROL, AND GOLF PRACTICE SYSTEM BASED ON IMAGE PROCESSING USING IT”), the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. However, various conventional techniques including the above one have not been much concerned with acquiring good images of a golf ball, i.e., the images that allow the trajectory, interval, size and the like thereof to be accurately determined.
Therefore, following the introduction of a remarkable virtual golf system in Korean Patent No. 1048864 (entitled, “METHOD OF MEASURING PHYSICAL QUANTITIES OF OBJECT BY USING SINGLE LIGHT SOURCE AND PLANAR SENSOR UNIT AND VIRTUAL GOLF SYSTEM UTILIZING SAME”) (the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in its entirety), the inventor(s) now present a novel feature to combine with such virtual golf systems, other virtual golf systems, systems for virtually playing other kinds of sports (e.g., baseball, football, etc.), or the like to enable them to produce more accurate simulation results.